almatar Puts Saudi-Built Travel Tech on the Global Stage
RIAYDH, SAUDI ARABIA, August 11, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — When World Travel Market arrives in Riyadh for the first time this September, it will be entering a Saudi tourism market that has changed dramatically in just a few years.
Across Riyadh, Qiddiya, the Red Sea, AlUla and Diriyah, Saudi Arabia is moving beyond the development of individual destinations and toward a connected tourism ecosystem backed by major investment, expanding infrastructure and a growing digital layer.
That transformation is creating a new question for the travel industry: how does the technology supporting the next generation of tourism get built?
For almatar, a Saudi-based online travel agency and travel technology company, the answer has been to build it in-house.
The company will make its first-ever appearance at WTM Spotlight Riyadh, taking place September 8–10, 2026, at the Riyadh Front Exhibition & Conference Center. As the event brings an established global travel brand to Saudi Arabia for the first time, almatar will use the platform to showcase technology developed by its own engineering teams and a suite of traveler-flexibility products designed around a simple premise: travelers should have more control when plans change.
Rather than relying entirely on third-party booking infrastructure, almatar has built and operates core components of its technology stack, including its booking engine, protection layers and post-booking servicing capabilities.
That approach has allowed the company to develop flexibility features that sit directly within the travel experience.
At WTM Spotlight Riyadh, almatar will showcase:
• Cancel for Any Reason: Eligible bookings can be canceled under the applicable terms and conditions.
• Change for Any Reason: Eligible flight bookings can be modified without change penalties, subject to the applicable terms and conditions.
• Change Your Hotel After Check-In: A GCC-first capability that allows eligible travelers to move to another hotel if the property does not meet their expectations after arrival and check-in, subject to the applicable terms and conditions.
• 3-in-1 Protection: Launched in March 2026, the product brings together Free Delay, Change for Any Reason and Cancel for Any Reason under a single protection proposition.
The products emerged at a time when geopolitical uncertainty was changing how travelers in the region thought about booking and risk. But almatar has continued expanding the proposition rather than treating flexibility as a temporary response to disruption.
For the company, the shift reflects a broader change in travel: the booking is no longer the end of the transaction. What happens when plans change is becoming just as important.
“Anyone can present a booking platform,” said Faisal Alrajhi, CEO of almatar. “We’re presenting technology we built ourselves to solve problems travelers actually have — from changing or canceling their plans to finding another hotel even after they have checked in. We were the first in the GCC to introduce these capabilities, and we continue to build around one simple principle: putting the traveler in control.”
Abdullah Khoja, General Manager of Corporate Communications at almatar, said the company’s technology strategy reflects the broader evolution of Saudi Arabia’s travel and tourism sector.
“Saudi Arabia is moving beyond building destinations. It is building an increasingly mature tourism ecosystem, from infrastructure and investment to technology and the customer experience,” said Khoja. “The challenges the region has experienced have reinforced the importance of investing in digital infrastructure and giving travelers greater flexibility and control.”
A Saudi technology story inside a global travel event
The significance of WTM Spotlight Riyadh extends beyond the arrival of a global travel event in the Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia is entering a new phase of tourism development, with major investments across destinations, aviation, hospitality, entertainment and digital infrastructure. The Kingdom is also preparing for global events including Expo 2030 and the 2034 FIFA World Cup, adding further pressure — and opportunity — to build a travel ecosystem capable of operating at international scale.
For Saudi technology companies, that creates an opportunity to do more than adopt global technology. It creates a market in which local companies can build, test and scale technology against some of the industry’s most complex travel requirements.
almatar’s experience includes developing and integrating digital travel platforms at scale, including technology connected to Nusuk, where digital experiences must support large volumes of users and complex travel journeys.
The company has also built integrations with international travel suppliers and platforms and is pursuing opportunities across international markets, including Africa, Pakistan, India, China and Bangladesh.
That combination of local scale and international connectivity is increasingly relevant as Saudi Arabia seeks to position its technology companies beyond the domestic market.
WTM Spotlight Riyadh provides a global audience for that story.
With international exhibitors, buyers, travel professionals and visitors expected at the inaugural Saudi edition, the event gives Saudi travel technology companies an opportunity to put locally developed products and capabilities in front of international partners and potential customers.
In that sense, the significance of WTM’s arrival in Riyadh is not simply that the world is coming to Saudi Arabia.
It is that Saudi companies are increasingly ready to show the world what they have built.
For almatar, that means putting Saudi-built travel technology — from booking and post-booking infrastructure to traveler protection and flexibility — on a global stage.
Visitors to WTM Spotlight Riyadh can meet the almatar team throughout the three-day event and explore the company’s travel technology and flexibility products, which are currently available through the almatar app and website.
About almatar
almatar is a global travel technology company providing flight, hotel and apartment booking services through a technology-driven platform. Built in Saudi Arabia with a global mindset, almatar focuses on customer-centric innovation and solutions designed to reflect how people travel today.
Mansour Aljabarty
ynz
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